QuickBooks Enterprise Review: Pricing & Features 2023

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise offers all the general features that good accounting software should have, such as the ability to set up a company profile, record entity type, and modify and import a chart of accounts from your previous accounting software. However, just like the other QuickBooks Desktop products, Enterprise took a hit in its score as you have to purchase a separate license fee for each additional user, which can be expensive for small businesses.

Its cloud-based counterpart, QuickBooks Online, does it better since you can choose a plan based on your number of users without paying an additional fee.

QuickBooks Enterprise would have garnered a perfect score if its A/P module had been easier to use. Nevertheless, it has robust A/P management features, including the ability to enter and pay bills and track outstanding bills until they’re paid. You can also record purchase orders (POs) and convert them to bills when you receive the items you ordered.

To simplify the payment process, you can set up online bill pay and make partial bill payments. Enterprise also allows you to create an audit trail for bills and POs to help you simplify the A/P management process.

When you upgrade to Enterprise Platinum or Diamond, you’ll be able to set up custom approval workflows for your bills and POs. This feature helps you gain complete control over the purchases made within your businesses. For instance, you can designate a team member as an approver of A/P transactions and track the status of each transaction that requires approval.

What’s more, you can set up a new approval workflow by clicking on Setup Approval Process under the Company menu. You must sign up as an admin to be able to set up a workflow. When you get to the Approval process for bills screen, enter the required details, including the workflow name, the conditions that will trigger the approval and the specific actions that you want to happen when your conditions are met.

For instance, you can set up a condition, such as any bill that’s greater than $1,000 from a vendor who you classify as a service provider, and when that condition is met, the transaction must be approved by a designated approver. You may also specify what happens if the approver doesn’t approve the transaction within a certain period, such as sending a reminder email to the approver.

Setting up a new workflow approval process for bills

Invoicing with QuickBooks Enterprise is similar to other QuickBooks products—you can create and customize invoices and send them out as PDFs or emails. However, Enterprise takes it one step further by allowing you to create and send invoices in batches—as opposed to entering information for each individual invoice manually.

Batch invoicing allows you to create invoices in bulk from a single-entry input, saving you time and effort. If you have multiple clients who are billed on a monthly basis for similar ongoing services, then you can create all of their invoices at once.

Batch invoicing feature in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

To reconcile your bank statements, you can choose to connect your bank account (bank feeds) or upload your files of statements manually, which gives you more flexibility. To make reconciliation faster, QuickBooks has a streamlined Undeposited Funds account that holds separate invoice payments and sales receipts you want to consolidate to match the single deposit in your bank statement. Some accounting programs also have an Undeposited Funds account, but they aren’t as comprehensive as that in QuickBooks Desktop.

QuickBooks Enterprise is ideal for project-based businesses like construction companies. You can create an estimate, and when that estimate is approved, you can convert it to an invoice instantly. You can also split estimates into as many invoices as needed (progress invoicing) instead of asking for a full upfront payment.

As you complete the service needed, you can simply add items from the original estimate to progress invoices. When creating a progress invoice out of an estimate, you need to specify how much you want to charge on the invoice for the selected items.

Progress invoicing in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

If changes are needed to the scheduled construction work, you can create change orders by editing the original estimate. QuickBooks will create a change order automatically based on the information you entered.

QuickBooks Enterprise isn’t the best tax management solution as it doesn’t help you file sales tax returns. However, if you only need help with tracking your taxes, then the platform can still provide a good value. You can determine how much you owe in taxes easily using the Sales Tax Liability Report. Sales taxes can be added to your invoice, and the program will apply the appropriate sales tax rate automatically based on the type of product or service, customer, and location you indicate in your sales form.

QuickBooks Enterprise is the strongest inventory management software we’ve reviewed. It has an Advanced Inventory module that provides enhanced features not found in the lower QuickBooks Desktop versions, including the ability to track inventory across locations.

Multi-inventory tracking in Enterprise lets you set specific reorder points, so you’ll be alerted when to replenish stocks, create assemblies using parts from different locations or warehouses, and transfer items between locations.

Transfer inventory between locations in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

You can use mobile barcode scanning to automate data entry, track inventory by bin numbers, and create customized inventory reports, such as inventory stock by item, inventory valuation summary, and assembly shortage by item. With Enterprise, you also have the option to choose between the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method and the average cost method to track inventory cost.

Another notable feature we want to emphasize is the ability to create pricing rules to adjust pricing automatically based on the rules you specify. For instance, you can set up a rule where your top 10 customers will receive a discount of 20% automatically if they purchase 10 items or more.

Fixed Asset Management

QuickBooks’ Fixed Asset Manager enables you to calculate the depreciation of fixed assets according to the standards published by the IRS. A fixed asset is any tangible property your business owns, including buildings, furniture, vehicles, and equipment. With QuickBooks’ Fixed Asset Manager, you can record new fixed asset purchases and accurately track their depreciation. Additionally, it calculates the gain or loss from the sale of a fixed asset.

The platform allows you to run all the important reports you need to track your business performance, whether these are standard reports, such as profit and loss (P&L) statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, or customized reports like job costing, sales by customer reports, and purchases by vendor reports. The only reason it didn’t get perfect points is that it can track inventory by location but not income and expenses, which is something you can do in QuickBooks Online.

Sample report on inventory by location in QuickBooks Enterprise

QuickBooks Enterprise is designed only to capture expense receipts and track business mileage. From your smartphone, you can snap a picture of your receipt and upload it to QuickBooks Desktop. The program will then record the information from the receipt automatically and match it with an existing transaction.

The mileage tracking feature lets you track your vehicle mileage automatically instead of manually recording odometer readings. Logged trips in QuickBooks Desktop are then available for approval by managers or supervisors. Once approved, you can bill them to the appropriate customer or process employee reimbursements.

However, there are several things you can’t do with Enterprise’s mobile app. You can’t send invoices, accept payments online, and record time worked, which usually are possible with similar accounting software like QuickBooks Online and Zoho Books.

You should find Enterprise easy to use—if you’re familiar with Pro or Premier. However, if you’re used to a cloud-based program like QuickBooks Online, expect a steep learning curve.

No, they’re two completely different programs. QuickBooks Enterprise is a QuickBooks Desktop product, while QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based accounting software.

While QuickBooks Enterprise is a locally installed software, you can take your files online through cloud hosting (for an additional fee). Hosted QuickBooks Enterprise allows you to access all of its features from a cloud server, giving you online access to your accounting files.

No, it’s not—and it’s expensive for small businesses. If you need a scaled-down and more affordable solution, we recommend you check our evaluation of the best small business accounting software.

QuickBooks Enterprise is great for midsize enterprises dealing with complex inventory management and businesses that need more flexibility in their pricing structure.